There Are Many Roads to Mecca

There Are Many Roads to Mecca

Recently I had a stimulating conversation with a young man in Croatia. He longed to travel and meet new people, yet felt he would never have the means to go far from his motherland. I countered his belief and spoke of how I have built internal friendships with nations...
Traversing Tribalism

Traversing Tribalism

This is another simple reminder to keep your circle porous. We are witnessing the drastic consequences of our fears and tribalism. The ability to stop it in our own lives is the one thing we can do.  – Jinx Davis I have a graduate school memory that has haunted...
Books to Help You Understand Ukraine

Books to Help You Understand Ukraine

The chatter about the Ukraine War is thundering, and it feels like everyone is on the bandwagon. Yet, as I listen to it across social media and in conversations, it is clear that most of us know little about this nation.  It is unlikely that the conflict will end...
What Do You Hold Dear?

What Do You Hold Dear?

This first appeared in China’s Ningbo Guide Magazine in January 2015 in a monthly column called Just Jinx. Gestation is important to each of us, for we are repeatedly granted the process of developing new life and birthing it into the world. May each of you...
Magical Cambodia – a cultural rebirth

Magical Cambodia – a cultural rebirth

Photo by Kak Sok Phirom We’ve launched our new online magazine highlighting Cambodia’s contemporary arts and culture. One article at a time, Magical Cambodia is building a magazine that will introduce you to the artists, galleries, writers, dancers,...
Tribe Art Gallery & Fin Dac

Tribe Art Gallery & Fin Dac

  Tribe’s mission statement says exactly what it actually does. No B.S. here, they are the real thing.:  Nat Di Maggio & Terry McIlkenny, the owners/managers both share a love and passion for Urban / Street and Contemporary Art. Originally from London...
It is a delicate dance…

It is a delicate dance…

It is a delicate dance. Cambodia haunts you as it inspires you. Next door to the abundantly gardened retreat of our home a hotel is being built. According to locals it is owned by a woman who has to start and stop the construction in order to raise the funds to...
Remembering the Truths

Remembering the Truths

The role of the US in the disaster of Cambodia. After one month of arriving in Cambodia, I take a day to myself, get caught up with social media, clean the house, and peruse a few books already read for the purpose of trying to answer some questions friends have...
Brochures for the Soul Shoes Project

Brochures for the Soul Shoes Project

  Brochures are ready for the Soul Shoe Project.  Are you making your shoes?  A child dies every 5 minutes from violence.  Make a shoe.  Stop the Silence.  Use community art to bring awareness. The vast majority of children are killed outside warzones and that...
The New Year & the Promise of Possibility

The New Year & the Promise of Possibility

  New Year’s celebrations always make us itch.  They scratch and tickle and won’t leave us alone.  They leave us hankering, yearning, thirsting and aching for another day, another chance, another rebirth.  On New Year’s Eve we feel like Ebenezer Scrooge being...
The Power of Play

The Power of Play

  There is a inaudible and under-examined plight in the world: we are forgetting how to play.  Cross cultural studies on children’s play are alerting us to the rapid decrease in children’s ability to enter in fantasy play and a severe decrease in both free play...
No Still Means No

No Still Means No

Nadia was enchanting from the moment she crossed our threshold.  Thirty-one years old, a natural beauty and an open, sincere spirit that flowed immediately from her steady handshake and engaging smile.  She came to our home for a week’s respite from her demanding job...
Dear China Friends

Dear China Friends

Dear son and China friends, I unabashedly send these words to you. I have been back in America for a month and each day has presented challenges in business, relationships, finances, culture and family dynamics that I could not have forseen while away. While it has...
Homeward Bound

Homeward Bound

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.”  – Lillian Smith, American writer   I’ve been back a few short weeks from a three month hiatus in China and...
The Stare

The Stare

  Foreigners of all colors call it rude, uncivilized and violating- but they miss the point entirely.  We all stare at the Other. I am chuckling as I read my umpteenth blog written by a foreigner about the Chinese love for staring.  The Chinese have allegedly...